


Room to Talk

by tigereyes45



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Family Bonding, Family Dynamics, Family Feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-13 09:51:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20580560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigereyes45/pseuds/tigereyes45
Summary: Donald is back. He gets home only to find out what all he has missed out on. He reacquaints himself with his twin while finally being there to help his nephews and sister navigate these new waters.He just never thought about how much his family would need him when he was gone.





	Room to Talk

“I’m tired Uncle Scrooge.” Was all Donald manages to say before collapsing in his sister’s and Huey’s arms.

They took him to his temporary bedroom in the mansion. Della had insisted on carrying her brother the entire way, but after almost tripping on her way up the stairs Beakly decided it would be best for Launchpad to carry the poor duck. In the end, Della refused and he ended up carrying her while she carried Donald. As she had gotten used to doing with the boys she tucks Donald in. He mutters their mother’s name as wraps the blankets around him tightly. It almost breaks her heart.

“It would be you to come back home in a golden bullet from a cruise.”

She mutters in response as Donald shivers. Della sits by his side throughout the night. The ticking of a grand clock accompanies her brother’s snores. When he wakes up she guesses it’s sometime past 4am. When he insists on getting some coffee she checks the clock to see. It was actually 4:46am. Closer to five but not too far off her guess. As they sneak down the steps to the kitchen it almost feels as if they are kids here again. Instead of adults trying not to wake anyone else up. Donald makes the coffee. Della pulls over to chairs. Donald shakes his head and chooses to stand. He stares at the finishing coffee when he finally speaks.

“So you were on the moon?”

Della wonders for only a moment how he knew. “Yep. Beautiful place.”

“I know I just got back from it.”

Della gives her twin an incredulous look. “You took a cruise and ended up on the moon?”

“Never made it to the cruise actually. I saw your ship crash. I went to find you, to bring you back home to the boys. When I got there you were gone and well,” he shrugs. Almost nonchalantly Donald adds, “They’re coming to attack us.”

“What?” Della snorts as she laughs. “Come on Donald. They were nice. I got back here thanks to them. They’re not;”

The look on Donald’s face silences her. “Oh shit, are they really coming?”

“Della! Language.” He still hadn’t had the talk with the boys and he wasn’t planning to until Louie was inevitably the reason. He pulls his cup of coffee out from under the machine. He cradles it in his arms and wonders how Louie has been handling the new dynamic. In some ways, his being gone would have been easier for the boys to bond with her. In others, he knew it must have been scary and tough.

“Oh please, they’ve heard worse.”

Donald shoots her a look she couldn’t argue with. “Fine. Are you serious?”

“Yeah. They said you betrayed them or something.”

“What? But they were happy to help!”

“I’m sure. He had been planning the attack since before you arrived.” Donald explains still cradling his cup of coffee. “We found his secret war room?”

“We?”

“Penumbra and I. Said she was a friend of yours.”

“Aw she said that?” Della asks wrapping her arms around one of Donald’s. He quickly gives up from pulling himself free, resigning himself to just moving his coffee.

“Yes, she did.”

“This must be serious then, so what do we do? We should tell Scrooge so we can-”

“Della, I already told Scrooge.”

“What?” she shouts. “You told Scrooge before telling me? I found you!”

“No Huey found me. The rest of you were content to wonder why I hadn’t sent a hundred letters back to the boys yet.”

“I didn’t know there was anything suspicious about no contact. You were on vacation!”

“I was suppose to be! Instead, I end up on the moon, almost killed, used to start an inter-worlds war, and almost died getting back! Even then I still tried to get a message back to you all.”

“Wow, you really do have issues. You would really have written a hundred letters?”

“With needing to respond to Huey’s letters, probably by the end of it yeah.”

“Uh, I actually wanted to talk about the boys.”

Donalds sighs as if he already knows what it is. “I know, but can it wait? I just got back, I want to see them. Can we talk about it tomorrow?”

“Sure Donald. Their upstairs tuck in bed. Louie has been having trouble sleeping so he may still be awake.”

“He always says he has trouble. If someone just sits with him until he falls asleep then he dozes off pretty quickly.”

“I-didn’t know that. He didn’t tell me that.”

“He doesn’t know that’s what I do when I sit with him. I always make sure to tell some boring stories or to play some music that I sing along with. It doesn’t really matter what you do as long as someone, anyone, is there for him. It’s all always to help the other boys, not him of course. He’s stubborn about not needing any help.”

“Kind of like you Donald.”

“Heh, I always thought that was more like you.” His words come out as a whisper as he spins his cup a little.

“I had to ground him, Donald?”

“Louie?”

“Yes. He nearly destroyed all of time, and got our family lost through the streams of it.”

Donald frowns at his drink and finally pushes his sister off of him. “Sounds like the time Uncle Scrooge,”

“It wasn’t like that time! That time it was just us and Scrooge! We didn’t watch each other blink out of existence! I watched my sons disappear Donald. I watched Huey and Dewey disappear right before my eyes. It-it was horrifying.”

Donald sighs. “I get that. I’ve grounded them before.”

“I had to be the bad guy.”

“That’s parenting Della. Did you explain why you had to?”

“Yes, he threw the Spear of Selene in my face.”

“To be fair,”

“It wasn’t the same thing Donald! I only risked my life, my fate.”

“No, you didn’t. You risked their lives as well. They were never in danger of dying but they grew up without a mother. They grew up never really knowing you. Never having a maternal figure present in their lives. They only just now got to know Uncle Scrooge.”

“Wait, just now?”

Donald sighs again and Della wonders how many years her brother had grown. “Recently. In the last couple of months. We didn’t talk for a long time Della. He didn’t want to see us and I, had trouble forgiving you both.”

“Donald I didn’t know. I had assumed-”

He raises a hand to cut her off. “Della it doesn’t matter. I’m gonna go check on Louie. Just, could you clean up my cup?”

“Yeah of course.” She watches him go with his head down. He didn’t think she was wrong, but she could have done better. He had been doing better. While she still has a lot to learn.


End file.
